World Conference on Complex Systems – 2026

World Conference on Complex Systems 2026

Navigating Contemporary Complexity:

Transdisciplinary Approaches to Social, Political, and Environmental Disruption

World Conference on Complex Systems 2026

Navigating Contemporary Complexity:

Transdisciplinary Approaches to Social, Political, and Environmental Disruption

April, 20-22, 2026 – Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco

[ Conference Program (PDF)Talks (video recordings) ] 

The Chair of Complexities ∞ Humanities partnered with the Moroccan Society of Interdisciplinary Studies to host the 6th World Conference on Complex Systems (WCCS26) at UM6P in Benguerir, in April 2026.

Held under the theme Navigating Contemporary Complexity, the conference brought together leading researchers and Ph.D. students from across the world to present cutting-edge work, confront emerging challenges, and explore new frontiers in complex systems and interdisciplinary science. 

As a premier international platform, WCCS26 advanced collaboration and debate on the most sophisticated methods for understanding, modeling, simulating, predicting, and navigating societal, ecological, biological, and engineered complex systems. By convening experts across disciplines, it bridged theory and real-world application — driving scientific progress and innovation.

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Video recordings

Relive the entire conference through the video recordings of the talks, panels, and parallel sessions. [click on name to view talk

Monday 20 April 2026

Keynote: Reda Benkirane. Lost in Complexity: Welcome to the Real World

Keynote: Peter Turchin. The Great Holocene Transformation: What Complexity Science Tells Us About The Evolution of Complex Societies

Panel 1 – Complexity, Society & Global Challenges

Carlos Álvarez Pereira. No Limits to Hope: Escaping from the unreasonable effectiveness of Modernity

David Chavalarias. The Artificialization of Cultural Evolution: the Impact of Very Large Digital Infrastructures on Individuals and Society

Louis Klein. Noospheric Singularity and the Mirror of Tamkeen

Panel 2 – Rethinking Knowledge in the Age of Complexity

Helena Knyazeva. Dancing with Complexity: How the World Thinks Through Us

Carlos Gershenson. The Implications of Complexity

Leonardo Rodríguez Zoya. Can Statistics Think? Complexity, Future, and Freedom in the Age of Large Language Models

Parallel Session 1

Track 1 – Agent-Based and Social Complexity

Track 2 – Foundations and Dynamics of Complex Systems

Tuesday 21 April 2026

Keynote: Abderrazak El Albani. Emergence of Intercellular Cooperation: At the Origins of Eukaryotic Complexity

Keynote:  Nigel Gilbert. Policy in a Complex World: Towards Complexity-Aware Policymaking

Parallel Session 2

Track 1 – Agent-Based and Social Complexity

Track 3 – Artificial Intelligence and Computational Systems

Keynote : Chris Bauch. Critical Transitions in Coupled Human-and-Natural Systems and their Early Warning Signals

Keynote: Abdelmajid Ibenrissoul. Public Decision-Making and Complexity: What Rationality for Evaluation?

Parallel Session 3

Track 4 – Socio-Ecological and Environmental Systems Session chair: Mohamed Bakhouya

Track 3 – Artificial Intelligence and Computational Systems

Wednesday, 22 April 2026

Keynote : Karoline Wiesner. The Physics of Political Change: Diffusion, Stability, and Regime Dynamics

Parallel Session 4

Track 1 – Agent-Based and Social Complexity

Track 2 – Foundations and Dynamics of Complex Systems

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Monday 20 April 2026

Opening Keynote –Reda Benkirane. Lost in Complexity: Welcome to the Real World

 

Keynote –  Peter Turchin. The Great Holocene Transformation: What Complexity Science Tells Us About The Evolution of Complex Societies.

 

Panel 1 – Complexity, Society & Global Challenges

 

• Carlos Álvarez Pereira. No Limits to Hope: Escaping from the unreasonable effectiveness of Modernity

• David Chavalarias. The Artificialization of Cultural Evolution: the Impact of Very Large Digital Infrastructures on Individuals and Society

• Louis Klein. Noospheric Singularity and the Mirror of Tamkeen

Panel Chair: Karima Kadaoui  

 

Panel 2 – Rethinking Knowledge in the Age of Complexity

• Helena Knyazeva. Dancing with Complexity: How the World Thinks Through Us

• Carlos Gershenson. The Implications of Complexity

• Leonardo Rodríguez Zoya. Can Statistics Think? Complexity, Future, and Freedom in the Age of Large Language Models

Panel Chair: Nigel Gilbert  

 

Parallel Session 1

Track 1 – Agent-Based and Social Complexity

• Julian Arevalo. Adaptive Readiness: an Agent-Based Model of Peace Negotiations

• Remah Dahdoul. Campaign-Spending Driven Polarization Transition in a Double-Random Field Model of Elections

• Nicholas Roxburgh. Exploring Interdependencies in an Island Economy

• Saida Hachimi El Idrissi. Formation of Complex Societies: An Agent-Based Model Inspired by Freudian Theory  

Track 2 – Foundations and Dynamics of Complex Systems

• Giuseppe Orlando. Entropy-Based Recurrence Diagnostics for Tipping Points in Complex Dynamical Systems: Evidence from Cryptocurrency Markets

• Stanisław Drożdż. Complexity Characteristics of Natural Language: The Special Role of Punctuation

• Marcin Wątorek. Filtering Amplitude Dependence of Correlation Dynamics in Complex Systems

Tomoko Sakiyama. Multi-Perspective for Probability Coordination Brings SOC in Game of Life

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Tuesday, 21 April 2026

Keynote Abderrazak El Albani. Emergence of Intercellular Cooperation: At the Origins of Eukaryotic Complexity

 

Keynote Nigel Gilbert. Policy in a Complex World: Towards Complexity-Aware Policymaking

 

Parallel Session 2

Track 1 – Agent-Based and Social Complexity

• Peter Jones. Presenting a Universal and Simple Conceptual Workbench to Situate and Encompass Complexity

• Nisrine Jarmoune. The Ontology of Behavior: Formalizing the Institutional Project as a Complex System

• Lionel Scotto d’Apollonia. Participatory Action Research with and for Society: The Case of “Oasis of Fraternity”

• Harvey Spencer Sánchez-Restrepo. Topological Patterns of Academic Success: Insights from Complex Network Analysis  

Track 3 – Artificial Intelligence and Computational Systems

• Wafae Mkhimri. Integrating Human-AI Collaboration for Automated Product Backlog Generation in Agile Development

• Hind Es-Sobbahi. Deep and Handcrafted Feature Descriptors for Iris Recognition: A Comparative Study

• Rahul Balamurugan. Emergent Consensus-Weighted Neural Network for Optic Disc-Cup Segmentation in Glaucoma

• Ayachi Ouafa. A ROS2-Based Indoor Mapping Dataset Acquired Using TurtleBot4  

 

Keynote Chris Bauch. Critical Transitions in Coupled Human-and-Natural Systems and their Early Warning Signals

 

Keynote Abdelmajid Ibenrissoul. Public Decision-Making and Complexity: What Rationality for Evaluation?

 

Parallel Session 3

Track 4 – Socio-Ecological and Environmental Systems Session chair: Mohamed Bakhouya

• Stephan Peter. Climate Change and Necessary Actions

• Luis Comolli. Emergence in Designed Agroecosystems: Collective Dynamics in a Perennial Multi-Species Agroforestry Network

• Masatoshi Funabashi. Socio-Ecological Evaluation of Synecoculture Implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Shuntaro Aotake. Measuring Plant Biodiversity across Scales: The αβ Scale Diversity Model with Image-Based AI Estimation

Track 3 – Artificial Intelligence and Computational Systems

• Carlo Lucheroni. Electricity Market Time Series Forecasting by Machine Learning Methods

• Meryem Abtane. Optimization of Sensor Placement for Detecting Axle Bearing Faults in High-Speed Trains

• Salma Ariche. Embedded Mamdani Fuzzy Control of HVAC Systems in Battery Electric Vehicles

• Abderrahmane Boudribila. Automating PLC Code Generation from Textual Requirement Specifications  

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Wednesday, 22 April 2026

Keynote Karoline Wiesner. The Physics of Political Change: Diffusion, Stability, and Regime Dynamics

 

Parallel Session 4

Track 1 – Agent-Based and Social Complexity

• Gerardus Bukkems. Mapping Regeneration through Viability Geometrics: Configurational Diagnosis beyond the Anthropocene

• Meriem Timouyas. Activity-Driven Spatial Agent-Based Modeling of Interaction Networks in Urban Systems: Application to epidemic dynamics in Agadir

• Marcela Lopes Alves. Neural Network-Based Parameter Estimation of a Labour Market Agent-Based Model

• Smahane Jebraoui. Agent-Based Approaches in Tourism Studies Insights, Applications, and Future Directions

 

Track 2 – Foundations and Dynamics of Complex Systems

• Mohamed Hibti. Propositions for Measuring the Complexity of Probabilistic Safety Assessment Models

• Ioana Andreea Jelea. Emergent Polycentricity in Synthetic Cities: From Agent-Centre Assignment to Evolutionary Urban Dynamics

• Jiří Nedomlel. Life Grows and Evolves by Adapting Its Exploration to the Environment

• Stefano Calzati. Being as Technics A Quantum-Informed Conjecture on Complexity

• Patrik Christen. Parallel Computation of Agent-Based Economic Models with Entity-Component-System Architecture

 

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World Conference on Complex Systems – 2024

World Conference on Complex Systems, 5th edition, November 11-14, 2024

The Chair of Complexities ∞ Humanities had the pleasure of being a leading partner and sponsor of the World Conference on Complex Systems (WCCS),  which took place from November 11 to 14 in Mohammedia, Morocco.

The Moroccan Society of Interdisciplinary Sciences organized the WCCS’s 5th edition in partnership with the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS), the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR), and the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences (IASCYS).

The conference provides “an international forum for researchers and Ph.D. students to present recent research results, address new challenges, and discuss emerging trends in complex systems and interdisciplinary science. It aims to foster a debate on the most relevant methodologies and approaches for understanding, modeling, simulating, predicting, evaluating, and mastering societal, ecological, biological, and engineered complex systems.”

See the WCCS full program here


Opening Keynote Speech

Reda Benkirane, “Complexity in the 21st Century: From the Limits of Growth to the Growth of Limits”

Reda Benkirane, the Chair holder, delivered the opening keynote speech titled “Complexity in the 21st Century: From the Limits of Growth to the Growth of Limits.”


Chair of Complexities ∞ Humanities Session

We also organized a special session on Tuesday, November 12th, featuring world-renowned complexity scientists Hervé Zwrin, Gregory Chaitin, Jean-Paul Delahaye, and Hugues Bersini.

Hervé Zwirn, Déterminisme et prédictibilité

Gregory Chaitin, Von Neumann on Biology and Life as Evolving Software

Jean-Paul Delahaye, La complexité de Chaitin-Kolmogorov et la profondeur logique de Bennett

Hugues Bersini, Algocracy and Public Services